“Fitting in” and “being good at”

A couple of days ago I went to a ballet by Ballet Black, it was a beautiful production, really good choreography with very talented artists. The dancers in this company brought back a memory when my ballet teacher (mind you I was 5!) didn’t let me go on stage because according to her standards I didn’t have the right physique for ballet. I wanted her to sit next to me; be amazed, excited, sad and even laugh(laughing during a ballet , right?) with me and see that art shouldn’t be restricted by body shape or skin colour. Obviously not everyone will end up as a professional artist, but you shouldn’t be told not to do something because you are different (for any reason).

When you are a kid, you do things naturally for the joy of the action, you draw pictures, you sing songs out loud, dance carelessly until somebody(sadly often from education) says that there’s no purple elephants, your voice is out of tune and boom! Self consciousness steps on stage, holds the pencils, echoes your voice and the enjoyment of the activity slowly disappears behind the (dis)approval of others. An Oscar-winner Hungarian short film tells a story about this in Mindenki (Sing), watch it, it’s really good🇭🇺🏆👍🏼📽💜

I think it is important to find the way back to that pre-consciousness stage again. To draw a picture, sing a song , dance around the house , loose yourself and feel the happiness coming from the activity itself. And just not listen to the inside voice telling you off, dare to be silly, feel the freedom of expression..whatever form you choose💃🏻🎤🎹🎼🎬🎨🎭.

And about yoga… I heard so many people saying “I don’t have the yoga body”; “I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible enough”, “I’m not the yoga type”… this is just the same voice telling you that you are shouldn’t do something if you can’t be good at it..

THERE’S NO SUCH A THING AS BEING GOOD/BAD AT YOGA

When I you do yoga for kids, I can see how they enjoy the practice without being overly conscious about themselves, they don’t feel ashamed if they fall out of a balancing pose or can’t reach their toes etc.

People full of doubt should just give it a try, treat it as an experiment, don’t look at other people just feel your body doing something new (maybe weird) and don’t judge… Just enjoy the movement, the breathing, the meditation. Leave your ego behind and sink into yourself, it might be hard at first, but be able to laugh at yourself and take it easy.

It’s just yoga☺️🙏🏼😎

As for ballet, I decided last year to face my demons and I found a beginners class with an amazing teacher. I didn’t receive offers from the Royal Ballet, but I spent a great time getting reacquainted with this beautiful art form, laughing at myself when I missed a step and felt proud when I got them right and most of all, I enjoyed dancing👯💃🏽💕.